Hearth Beat Ex-Career Women Help Each Other

Hearth Beat Ex-Career Women Help Each Other

Article excerpt

Jill Proehl used to be a high-powered journalist. Now she's a
high-powered mommy.

In the spring, Proehl, a former Chicago television producer,
started the St. Louis chapter of FEMALE - Formerly Employed Mothers
at the Leading Edge - a national organization for women who left
paying jobs to work full time at home.

Stay-at-home mothers have to fight for respect, says Proehl,
30. When people ask the Arnold woman what she does for a living,
she tells them she's a neurological engineer, responsible for
stimulating the minds of her children - Lauren, 2, and Drew, 3
months.

Motherhood is the most intellectually stimulating job she has
had. "You won't find me in my bathrobe at noon, watching soap
operas and eating bonbons. I'm busy explaining to a 2-year-old how
babies are born, why leaves change colors, and why this word sounds
like this," Proehl said.

FEMALE's dozen or so mothers and their tots meet several times
a week - such as a day at the park or a hayride or some other
organized event. Once a month is mothers' night out - no children
allowed.

Membership dues for FEMALE are $20 a year and include a monthly
newsletter.

Being at home with a child can feel isolating to a woman who is
used to having a web of co-workers. FEMALE provides necessary
relief and release, says Chris Hamilton, 32, a former executive
secretary from St. Peters.

"We'd go brain dead if we just talked to our 2-year-olds all
day long," said Hamilton, whose son, Tommy, is 2. It's not always
easy for tots to find playmates, either, she said. s Most of the
children in her neighborhood are in day care.

FEMALE is a professional association for stay-at-home mothers,
quips Proehl. "We ask each other questions the way you would ask a
co-worker about your job. Like, what did you do when your child
projectile-vomited? If I did not have the camaraderie of other
women, I would probably go crazy."

They also confer on important issues such as losing financial
independence, feeling guilty about not being able to do it all and
keeping their marriages fresh. …